Syrian troops start Lebanon pull-back

Lebanese officials said Syrian troops will begin pulling back toward the Syrian border today, as the leader of the Hezbollah militant group called for a demonstration in Beirut to counter weeks of anti-Syrian protests here.

Lebanese officials said Syrian troops will begin pulling back toward the Syrian border today, as the leader of the Hezbollah militant group called for a demonstration in Beirut to counter weeks of anti-Syrian protests here.

Syrians backed President Bashar Assad's decision to pull troops toward eastern Lebanon and insisted yesterday that he was not bowing to international pressure.

The withdrawal from central and northern Lebanon toward the Bekaa Valley will begin right after a meeting in Damascus, of the presidents of the two countries, Lebanese Defence Minister Abdul-Rahim Murad said.

Assad and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud will decide on the timetable of the pullback and repositioning of forces.

Hezbollah's powerful leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, called for a massive peaceful demonstration tomorrow in central Beirut to show loyalty to Syria. The protest, he said, was to denounce international interference, show support for resistance movements and foil any attempts to make a peace deal with Israel.

Assad told his parliament on Saturday that the redeployment of 14,000 Syrian troops to the Bekaa Valley is the first phase of a two-step pullback, but he left unclear whether troops eventually would leave Lebanon or remain near the border.

He also said nothing about pulling out intelligence officials, who the US said also must leave.

Syria has had troops in Lebanon since 1976, when they were sent as peacekeepers during that country's 1975-1990 civil war. When the war ended, the troops remained while Syria dominated Lebanon's politics.